Goodbye To You...2015

Happy 2016, year of the Monkey. And oh happy Three Kings as well since today is already January the 3rd. The holiday season is finally over.  

I hope this year will be good to me since I was born year of the Monkey which only happens every twelve years thus the next would be on 2028. 

Not that 2015 wasn't good to me, it’s just that a death of a long time family companion, our dog for ten years is just kind of hard to bear since he passed away few days after Christmas. All could’ve been perfect this year, from my sister and I’s most sought after birthday travel, the new home, me leaving my job for three years since I was never happy with it anyways, the feeling you’re finally settled until the unexpected happened, the demise of our beloved family canine. 

I truly believe you cannot have everything. The ups and downs is part of life, to maintain some sort of balance to everything, to keep the ball of fate going perhaps. I am just thankful to God for joyous 2015, nevertheless. For me and my family’s good health, and let me also mention that one of our dog who was tested positive for blood parasite infection came negative after couple of months. The news came that same fateful day of Brandon’s (the german shepherd) passing. 

stash from the Sunflower Festival, the Elephant key chain
 and the lovely mango soap, smell so good you can
almost eat it.

my DIY bathroom mirror...

Moving on, new year, fresh start, clean slate. My sissy and I will be renewing our passports this year. We’re brewing a trip to Thailand for our birthday (hopefully). My niece suggested Pattaya, Thailand to this place called Sanctuary of Truth since she recently attended this event called the Sunflower Festival. We saw the temples there through pictures and we were amazed since we love to travel to temples with intricate structures and carvings. We’re crossing our fingers it would materialise and not just wishful thinking although chances are it will because we are eager, adventurous souls who will never say never. 

another one of my DIY projects:
jutified yoghurt bottle :D

As for me, I started my year with more DIY projects such as the one I recently made--couple of flower vases from empty/recycled wine bottles which I decorated with jute twines, plain monochromatic mirror turned into work of art etc. I am also venturing into making other steamed foods other than pastries such as my new baby, rice cake with caramel custard on top (Puto Flan) recipe I found on YouTube.

freshly made Puto Flan

PUTO FLAN RECIPE

Ingredients

5 egg yolks

5 egg whites

2 cups cake flour

1 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tsp lemon

1 1/2 cup water

1 cup condensed milk

1. flan mixture : add together lemon, condensed, egg yolks

• grease pans with butter
• steam for 10mins

2. rice cake mixture: combine egg white, evap milk, sugar mix till well blended

3. mix dry ingredients: baking powder, cake flour, salt

4. combine rice cake and dry ingredients together whilst pouring water, mix until well blended.

5. pour cake mix on top of cooked flan; steam for 10mins again.

let it cool. 

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. I also cooked Aglio Oglio pasta paired with breaded pork chops which I sliced so thinly then breaded it using eggs, cornstarch and bread crumbs for Media Noche. It was heaven though especially when dashed with this homemade sauce I found in Google last minute too called Honey Garlic Sauce which is an amalgamation of  the ff:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup honey 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

I can’t find any chicken last minute before New Year’s eve and as much as I hate eating pork I had no choice though.

Again, Happy New Year!!! Let’s bury all the hatchet.

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In God's Time

First of, let me welcome the month of November feeling thankful and blessed.

I can say its been a lucky year so far because we sold our house to its now rightful owner before the year come to a close. No one said it would be easy of course 'cuz it took five grueling years before someone finally took notice, was interested and eventually bought it. A lot of changes happened along the way and mostly painstakingly difficult. But then, God listened to our woes and prayers, he granted what we've been yearning for, a move to a new house eventually, to start anew. It was bittersweet but life goes on. Life is a constant change. I thanked my dearly departed Mom of course because this wouldn't have happened without her guidance, and above all, God, he made all things possible. As an adage goes “Patience comes to those who wait” and things will eventually fall into place at the right time or the most apt thing to say is in God's perfect time.

my ever reliable drilling equipment

Moving on, I got so busy decorating the house and all, bought new fixtures etc, etc. My sissies and I found this furniture shop that sells really affordable fixtures. Buying furniture is such a good de-stressing activity. I just love beautifying our new house. I actually love decorating because it brings out the creativity in me and when you have tons of ideas there's no stopping! I was so squeamish to hang our decors on the wall so we bought this impact drilling equipment at the nearest handyman store. At first, it was kind of difficult to wrap my head around the thought of operating that darn drilling equipment but after reading through the not so comprehensive instruction manual, I was able to successfully drill over fifteen holes (mostly by trial and error) which now holds roughly that many wall decors, mirrors, a wall clock, and the most difficult of them all, a towel holder. Drilling on really thick tiled bathroom walls is such a pain. It wasn't as easy as I thought. Nevertheless, I now seriously enjoy drilling the walls no matter how heavy the drilling equipment is after seeing the finished products. The effort and exhaustion is just all worth it. Who says drilling is a man's job? I don't think so. All you have to have is patience for it, an eye shield for the cement particles, an apron with pocket for screws/hooks and a surgical mask so you won't inhale the dust. Last but not least, clean up your own mess if you don't wanna get scolded!

he's better off asleep actually because
he does a lot of crazy things awake :D

I love our new home, it's peaceful and just minutes away from the central district. Let me also share that my cat now sleeps in my room more often because I think he's still scared to get lost in the woods nearby so he'd rather be a homebody kitty. I can't wait to venture into working from home as well because I already got tired of working in the confides of the office and endure the ever worsening traffic jams. I want to have time for lot of other things right now, especially traveling, blogging, baking, and my list goes on.

I'm off to visit my Mom's Columbarium tomorrow. I miss her and I wanna talk to her in silence, bring her flowers. Just early today, I heard the door bell rang twice and there's no one outside. I can't say it's grounded because I fixed our door bell myself and it's working perfectly. I guess she's just paying our new home a visit, trying to test the door bell perhaps since I always have doubts that I indeed fixed it LOL. Well, it's the 1^st of November what to expect? A lot of wandering souls yonder. Let's just offer them prayers. Nothing to be scared of. I am more scared of Burglars than ghosts. Just saying.

It's 54 days to go before Christmas. Have you decorated your Christmas tree yet? I did. My cat hasn't played with a single Christmas balls yet, I am crossing my fingers.

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Christmas Air

Hello October! I can't believe it, it's only couple of months more to go before we display our Christmas decors again after they collect dust for a year. We're also moving to a new home after waiting for so long yey!

I remember last year, my family and I have been wishing for a new home. My siblings and I fervently asked help from our Mom since she's already in heaven, hoping she could relay our message to God. I must admit we almost lost hope so we thought of moving back down south, even considered working abroad until this miracle happened, our house finally found its new owner. God is really good. We also give credits to our Mom who might've worked double time asking God to grant our wish (knowing how persistent she is when she was still around) no matter how busy his trunkline is.

As an end note, always thank God for all the blessings that come your way no matter how big or small. Talk to your loved ones who's already in heaven because I always believe that they look after those they left behind no matter what. This may sound quite odd but I think our dearly departed ones have the capacity to escalate our concerns to the highest ranking person in heaven.

I can smell Christmas.

posted from Bloggeroid

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